Report to 7726 failed

[thePoodleFarmer]

My wife got a Phishing sms message about an overcharge refund with a link to click. She is smart, and didn't click on the message. She texted me a screenshot because her phone is on my account. I forwarded the screenshot to 7726. After a while it kicked an error could not send. She deleted the conversation so it is not accessible on her device. 

Not sure how your reporting system works. I spoke to a customer service rep who gave me the 7726 number to forward the text but she was unaware of any secondary or alternative means to report anything to FIDO or Rogers as far as abuse or scams are concerned. Report to an anonymous text number and carry on seems to be the message. 

My bigger concern is that the number we have is less than a couple of months old and I was told it was a new never issued number, so how someone knows so quickly that it has been activated on the FIDO network is a security concern. Not sure how to raise a security concern, all I have been told is send to 7726. Not quite the same as sending an email that might get some sort of thoughtful reply. 

[Cawtau · Accepted solution]

Hello thePoodleFarmer,

  Welcome to the community!

  You likely received the error trying to send the screenshot to 7726 because I don't think the system is setup to receive MMS. Normally, one would forward the SMS SPAM to that number. You can do this easily by pressing and holding on the body of the text and then press the forward button. I understand your wife deleted the message and is no longer able to do so. A thread was started to help inform community members of circulating SMS SPAM (see here), however, we are still advised to submit the SMS to 7726 for auditing.

  I do not believe the spammers/scammers are targeting newbies or that any of Fido's security measures have been compromised. I also received that same (at least similar) SMS SPAM allegedly from 'carrier-fidosolutions.com' and I've had my line for a number of years.

  I understand the text message might have been directed at Fido customers. However, it's actually rather easy to target a specific group of customers. All phone numbers -- whether landline or mobile -- are in databases which are readily available online. Certain prefixes are designated as landlines, others as Rogers, Fido, Bell, etc (see here). All someone needs to do is pick an area code and prefix and let a computer sequentially send those numbers from 0000 to 9999 text messages and all of those customers would be with the desired targeted provider.

  There have even been cases where former customers, who have ported out their numbers to other providers, have received SPAM SMS targeted at their previous providers. Since those online phone number databases are not updated with ported number information, that could be taken as evidence that actual provider database information has not been hacked.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[jonc56]

I tried "pressing and holding on the body of the text and then press the forward button", but it fails, saying "check the message". What could possibly be wrong? I entered the number 7726. That's the number! It's got the number! Send the message! What else could possibly be needed? 

[Cawtau]

Hello Jonc56,

Welcome to the community!

  Is it possible the message you received was MMS? The 7726 reporting centre is unable to process MMS messages. In order to report SCAM/SPAM MMS messages, it will need to be converted to SMS first. I have recently provided the procedure I use to be able to report those MMS SCAM/SPAM messages here.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[Wing0125]

Have you noticed an uptick in the frequency of mms messages from scammers?  I am sending messages to the 7726 and this time it was rejected by the absence of the recipient. Huh??

 

[Cawtau]

Hello Wing0125,

Welcome to the community!

  Thank you for continuing to flag these SPAM messages! As mentioned, I don't think the system is able to accept MMS messages. Yes, I have noticed that most, if not all, of my recent SPAM messages are now MMS. I'm guessing the scammers/spammers are aware of the system and are attempting to make reporting more difficult. However, I have found that if the subject heading is removed from the forwarded message, it will often convert the message back to SMS and will be able to receivable by the system.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[thePoodleFarmer]

That explanation is reasonable and valid. And is supported by my own lack of such spam SMS messages. The number on my device was ported over from BELL Mobility, and before that was my Bell landline number. Landline prefixes wouldn't be a high priority target for spam SMS messages. 

thanks for the explanation.

And here I was starting to link the fact that my wife only just downloaded and activated the FIDO My Account app on her phone and within 24 hours got spam. At least I don't have to worry about the app carrying some devilishly coded malware hidden by deep-state bad actors.

Totally unsupported paranoid delusional theories are fun as thought experiments. You just can't take them too seriously. Insert Donald Trump emoji here.  🤣